Renovated New Zealand Embassy Chancery Delivered
2017-11-21

The delivery ceremony for the renovated chancery of the New Zealand Embassy to China was held at 2:30 pm., 26 September 2017, at the madeover premises. It took 671 days for the project to complete, starting 25 November 2015. Having overcome challenges such as limited working space and demanding technological requirements, this Department has successfully accomplished the project through concerted efforts, working together with the related departments, thanks principally to the well coordinated endeavors of the general contractor.

Mr. John McKinnon, the New Zealand ambassador to China, and Mr. Nigel Prince, Deputy Secretary Services Group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, delivered speeches to mark the opening of the remade office premises. Attaching tremendous importance to the project as it is the largest chancery of an overseas mission of New Zealand, the ambassador expressed his gratification for the completion, using the Chinese proverb that could be roughly paraphrased as “Where there is a will there is a way”. He thanked the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Beijing Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions (DSB), Beijing Housing Service Corporation for Diplomatic Missions (HSC) and all the stakeholders for cooperation and assistance throughout the entire process, saying he was in eager anticipation to see the end result of new office building and residence.

In his speech, Mr. Zhou Bin, director general of the Administrative Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, commented that President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang visited New Zealand in 2014 and 2017, respectively, to further promote the in-depth development of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries, on the basis of mutual respect and benefit to enhance political trust and practical cooperation for more people-to-people exchange and multilateral coordination. The completion of the renewed chancery of the embassy would be a new corner stone of China-New Zealand relations. He hoped that the new office premises of the Chinese embassy in Wellington would also be accomplished as soon as possible to serve as a new landmark of the bilateral relationship.

To reply, Ms. Jiang Qi, DSB executive deputy director general, said that the completion of the renovated premises of the embassy served as a new symbol of China-New Zealand friendship. She quoted a Maori adage that could be paraphrased as “Putting our baskets together will make our lives better” to express her gratitude for the exemplary cooperation of all the stakeholders in the project. She commented that it was one more proof of the truth -- Unity is Strength. Following the motto of “Serving China’s diplomatic pursuits and international diplomatic community in Beijing”, the DSB engineering team came up with a large number of solutions to solve the complicated issues in the embassy makeover, with a sense of responsibility and professionalism. Taking the front gate of the embassy for example, today’s majestic and convenient access was the result of coordinating with the district and municipal departments of landscaping, military police, traffic control and civil engineering. In addition, the DSB also provided professional and quality property management services. She said she could foresee closer and broader cooperation between the DSB and the embassy to add to the bilateral ties advancement.

When the delivery ceremony was over, the participants were invited to tour the newly completed chancery. The renovation project has offered a chance for the HSC engineering team to further improve their expertise and showcase their capability. Similar efforts will be continued in the project acceptance and wind-up procedures to produce totally satisfactory result for the embassy and HSC.